ROBINS TAKES A POINT

United manager Mark Robins delivered his verdict after taking his seat in the home dugout at Glanford Park for the first time.

The Iron drew 1-1 with Colchester United and Robins was pleased with certain aspect of the home side’s play.

“First point, brilliant,” he told The Iron Player.

“It could have been better but it could have been worse.

“It gives us plenty of food for thought. You’ve got a side who come here and like to play football and make it difficult for you.

“You can’t press them otherwise they will pass around you so we had to be a little bit more patient which the supporters at home don’t really like to see.

“We coped with it well, kept them at bay and restricted them to long and crossfield passes. We created enough to have won it and conceded enough chances to lose it.”

Colchester nearly won it at the end as Rhys Healey’s effort in stoppage time was crucially saved by Bobby Olejnik.

“We have to be thankful to Bobby,” Robins added, pointing out what his new side did well on Saturday afternoon.

“We have to look at the positive things we did, where we created one or two decent openings.

“There was some decent play at times but where we are now is a long way away from where I want us to be.

“We’ve had three days in terms of work and I expected us to be there at this moment in time.”

Robins made two substitutions at half-time, with debutant Isaiah Osbourne and Lyle Taylor coming on for Sean McAllister and scorer Rory Fallon, as Robins looked for a reaction after the U’s had the better of the possession after their 33rd minute goal.

“The changes after the break shook things up and you expect it and hope it does it in a positive fashion,” he said.

“We were trying to give them a different problem, not contain them, to open them up and we didn’t quite manage it.

“On a pitch like this we want someone out there who can open teams up because it’s quite tight and they had one or two clever young players and we will look to add when and where we can.”

See much more from Mark Robins and Isaiah Osbourne on The Iron Player.